For more than 45 years, Donald Bren, chairman of The Irvine Company, has been deeply involved in California real estate as a master planner, master builder and a long-term investor.
A leader and innovator within the real estate industry, Mr. Bren was one of the first to combine well-designed homes with such amenities as parks and substantial open space, excellent schools, employment centers and shopping centers to create balanced master-planned communities. Through his accomplishments, he has earned a national reputation as an expert in the interrelated fields of planning, design, architecture, construction, marketing and finance.
He also is one of the state’s most generous philanthropists, focusing his contributions to significantly impact education and research, as well as to implement innovative approaches to the conservation of sensitive open spaces and species.
In 2007, Business Week magazine ranked Mr. Bren 9th on its annual list of "The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists" in the country, citing an estimated $915 million he has given or pledged since 2003. In 2004, in recognition of his wide-ranging support for the University of California system, Mr. Bren was awarded its highest honor, the University of California Presidential Medal. In 2006, The Los Angeles Times placed him atop its list of the 100 most influential people in Southern California. And in 2007, Mr. Bren was elected a Fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Fellows are elected from throughout the world through a highly competitive process, and are chosen for their major and lasting contributions to their disciplines and society. Mr. Bren was elected in the category of Business, Corporate and Philanthropic Leadership – Private Sector.
“Simply put, Orange County looks like Orange County – much of it uniformly manicured and catering to the high life and high tech – because of the influence of Bren,” The Times wrote. “UC Irvine, Fashion Island, the Irvine Spectrum, University Research Park, Newport Coast, Orange County’s thousands of acres of wilderness and parkland, and its enviable public school systems all bear Bren’s imprint.”
Mr. Bren’s vision and expertise are guiding the creation of the nation’s premier master-planned community on The Irvine Ranch® in central Orange County, 93,000 acres stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the inland mountains of the Cleveland National Forest.
“We want to produce a great urban culture that balances high-quality development and environmental sensitivity to yield a quality of life unmatched anywhere,” he once told Fortune magazine.
Under Mr. Bren’s leadership, The Irvine Company has been evolving from an internationally recognized community developer to one of the nation’s premier real estate investment companies. Most of The Irvine Company’s land and real estate assets are in Orange County, but the company also owns high-quality investment properties in Los Angeles, San Diego and Silicon Valley. The company’s portfolio includes approximately 400 office buildings, 40 retail centers, 90 apartment communities, two hotels, five marinas and three golf clubs.
Mr. Bren has been at the forefront of efforts to preserve environmentally sensitive land in Southern California, a commitment that was recognized in 2006 with the designation of The Irvine Ranch’s protected parks and open spaces as a National Natural Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. In 1990, Mr. Bren announced the creation of an “uncommon alliance” with The Nature Conservancy to manage the company’s wilderness land, and study and improve habitat for a variety of sensitive species.
In 1996, under a creative, voluntary agreement with the federal, state and county governments, The Irvine Company agreed to set aside more than 21,000 acres of precious open space habitat for endangered and threatened plant and animal species.
In 2001, the company donated 11,000 acres of environmentally diverse land in the north portion of The Irvine Ranch to be protected forever as permanent open space. That donation brought to 50,000 acres the amount of land permanently protected for open space and recreation on The Irvine Ranch – more than half of the entire 93,000-acre ranch. Mr. Bren also has committed $50 million for the long-term management, preservation and restoration of the natural resources on The Irvine Ranch, now being carried out by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, which Mr. Bren created. Its mission also is to increase public access to the lands.
Mr. Bren has made education and research his other philanthropic priorities. The Irvine Company and the Donald Bren Foundation have contributed more than $200 million to public schools on The Irvine Ranch and to institutions of higher education. Mr. Bren’s educational philanthropy ranges from major contributions to local K-12 schools for enrichment programs, after-school programs for low-income children, and scholarship awards, to funding more than 50 endowed chairs for distinguished faculty at institutions for higher learning. At the University of California, Mr. Bren has contributed more to support endowed chairs than any other single donor in UC’s history. Privately and through the Donald Bren Foundation, The Irvine Company and related entities, he has directed more than $60 million to support faculty and programmatic excellence at UC.
“For well over two decades, Mr. Bren’s focus on the creation of endowment funds to support faculty chairs has helped bring to the University of California some of the best researchers and scholars in the nation and the world,” UC President Robert Dynes said when Mr. Bren was awarded the UC Presidential Medal in 2004. “His passionate philanthropy and commitment to educational excellence have helped strengthen the university.”
Mr. Bren has played an instrumental role in UC Irvine’s ascension into the top ranks of research universities. His philanthropy has established more than 36 endowed chairs, and helped establish the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences and Donald Bren Endowment at UCI. Among his other contributions to UCI are major gifts in support of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Bren Events Center, Paul Merage School of Business, Beckman Laser Institute and the University of California, Irvine Foundation. Mr. Bren received the UCI Medal, the campus’ highest honor, in 1989.
In addition, Mr. Bren helped establish the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, a major graduate studies program based at UC Santa Barbara dedicated to the prevention and solution of environmental problems.
In addition to UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, he also has funded endowed chairs for distinguished Bren Professors at Chapman University, Caltech and Marine Corps University. In total, Mr. Bren has endowed 50 chairs for distinguished faculty and researchers at universities and research institutions.
Mr. Bren serves on the board of trustees at Caltech and The UCI Foundation.
The Marine Corps University Foundation in 2003 awarded Mr. Bren its most prestigious award, the General Leonard F. Chapman Medallion named in honor of the 24th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Also, in 1998, the Foundation awarded Mr. Bren the Semper Fidelis Award, presented to distinguished Americans whose commitment to excellence embodies those qualities of leadership and character uniquely associated with the Marine Corps.
Another major focus of Mr. Bren’s philanthropy is research, and his major contributions to leading research institutions are creating new opportunities for scientists, medical researchers and scholars. These range from finding cures for human diseases and improving humans’ overall quality of life, to ushering in advances in computer science that improve the way individuals and entire corporations operate, to environmental problem-solving through an unusual interdisciplinary approach. In addition to research focusing on environmental problem-solving and the computer sciences at the University of California, Mr. Bren’s research philanthropy has benefited the efforts of distinguished scientist Dr. John C. Reed at the internationally acclaimed Burnham Institute for Medical Research. The La Jolla, Calif.-based institute conducts wide-ranging research in three critical areas of medical research: cancer, neurosciences and aging, and infectious and inflammatory diseases.
Mr. Bren has been a generous supporter in the Orange County community, donating millions in charitable contributions, both personally and on behalf of The Irvine Company. Major beneficiaries have included the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the Orange County Museum of Art, and a wide range of local charities. Mr. Bren also has a long-standing interest in art, history and architecture. He is on the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Orange County Museum of Art.
Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Bren was raised in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California. He earned a degree in business administration and economics from the University of Washington where he also pursued business school graduate studies. Following school, he served for three years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Mr. Bren began his business career in 1958 by founding the Bren Company, which built homes in Orange County. In 1963, he formed the Mission Viejo Company and, as president, began the master planning and development of the 11,000-acre new community of Mission Viejo in Orange County.
In 1967, Mr. Bren sold his interest in the Mission Viejo Company to focus his attention on the Bren Company (subsequently renamed California Pacific Homes), which has built residential communities in Orange County, Los Angeles, Ventura County, San Diego and Northern California.
In 1977, Mr. Bren joined a group of investors to purchase The Irvine Company from the Irvine Foundation. His 34 percent share of the company made him the largest shareholder. He became a member of the company’s executive committee and vice chairman. In April 1983, Mr. Bren purchased additional outstanding shares from shareholders to secure ownership of 92 percent of the company and was elected chairman of the board. He became the company’s sole shareholder in July 1996.
Describing his mission for The Irvine Company, he says, “As master builders, we are blending architectural and planning skills, plus business and financial disciplines, to produce superbly balanced communities. I consider The Irvine Company land a quintessential opportunity and challenge for anyone in real estate.”
Mr. Bren is an Olympic-class skier, an avid tennis player and a longtime sailor.
